ToDue: App Design

ToDue Allyson Jayne Rebecca Thomas Sam Harper Matthew Witbeck Somer Hand

Executive Summary Project Description: ToDue is a personal assistant app that allows the user to better organize their lives by making various types of task lists and calendar events that can be shared with multiple people across various platforms. The app also features personalization functions for better user experience Reason for Testing: Evaluate competitor applications, identify usability issues that can be improved, and implement new features

Executive Summary Methods ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Personas Competitor Analysis Context Analysis Task Analysis Heuristic Evaluation Quantitative Testing Design Thinking Prototyping

Executive Summary Results

Recommendations

Effectiveness and efficiency issues due to unclear navigation

Provide clearly marked exits and limit depth of app

Unable to locate functions due to unclear icons

Use familiar icons for an intuitive interface

Lacking personalization options

Add personalization options including theme and background easily accessible in settings

Introduction

Project Description

ToDue is a personal assistant app allowing users to organize their lives by making shopping/task lists and calendar events that can be shared with individuals/groups. The app also features personalization functions for better user experience

ToDue: User Goals

Create Lists

Create Calendar Events

Share With Other Users

Personalize Appearance

ToDue: Data Collection/Feedback ● List feature ○ ○ ○ ○

Create to-do lists, shopping lists, checklists Subtasks to better track task completion with progress bar View completed tasks and who completed them Ability to add due dates for tasks

● Calendar feature ○ ○ ○

Keep track of important events and deadlines Day, week, month views Color coding for type of event

● Folders to organize lists and events ○

By category or group (ex: family or work folder)

ToDue: Personalization ● Choose your theme ○

Background, color scheme, font size, color coding, etc.

● Avatar or profile picture ● Contact list within the app for easy sharing with individual users and groups ○ ○ ○

Most recent contacts Contact groups (ex: family) All contacts

● Notification options ○ ○

Time, priority levels, email vs. phone notification Shared list notifications, feedback on shared items

ToDue: Recommendations ● Important Events/ Due Dates ○

Notification reminders of approaching due dates and events

● Progress Updates ○

If little progress has been made on a task, pop up reminder of current status to encourage working on the task

● Provide a list of frequent contacts and groups to share with

Methods

Personas

Representation of possible user profiles used to evaluate user roles and design solutions

Based on Theoretical Assumptions

Persona 1 - Sandra Description Sandra is a middle-class suburban mom in her late 30’s and married with four kids.

She is a stay at home mom who primarily spends time taking care of her kids and driving them to their various activities. She runs most of the errands for the household. Occasionally her husband helps out but often ends up buying the wrong item or forgetting the kids’ activities.

Goals ●

Background ● ● ●

Gender: Female Age: 30-45 Occupation: Stay at home mom

● ●

She wants to become more organized and find an efficient way to share duties and lists with people across multiple platforms She wants to better coordinate with husband.

She wants to be able to track progress on household projects

Motivations ● ●

●

One of the children was left at dance rehearsal for 2 hours with no ride home Not everyone she would like to share notes with has an iphone so she would like a multi-platform app.

Would like to have more free time for herself or to spend with her kids, but can only have that if she completes all of her tasks efficiently and organizes her schedule well.

Challenges ●

●

●

Currently she uses basic apps that come preinstalled on her iPhone such as Notes and Calendar for organization and doesn’t have all of her household info in one app.

With using these apps she can’t share and coordinate with other soccer moms, especially those without iPhones.

She is inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing her goals and tasks because she wastes time trying to coordinate with so many people across multiple apps and keeping track of all of her ongoing lists

Persona 2 - Richard Description Richard is the CEO of a medical device company and married with 2 kids in college. He has an incredibly busy schedule meeting with customers, board members, employees, etc. He is generally organized but finds it difficult to keep track of everything going on in his professional life. He has an assistant that he has to coordinate with but has missed meetings before because he didn’t have access to his assistant’s planner and schedule.

Goals ●

Background ● ● ●

Gender: Male Age: 50 Occupation: CEO

●

●

He wants to have access to and control over his schedule and be able to share it with other people (assistant, people he is meeting with) He wants to be able to delegate tasks and manage projects and keep track of all of them in one centralized location He wants to be able to coordinate with his wife about scheduling and household tasks

Motivations ●

●

●

Time is money for Richard, he doesn’t have time to waste getting organized or tracking down his assistant He has missed meetings before, which damages both his and his company’s reputation He could be growing his company by scheduling more meetings if he was more organized.

Challenges ●

●

●

Currently he uses email to schedule meetings as well as to manage projects and delegate tasks outside of meetings, but wants all of that information centralized and wants a better way to schedule meetings.

With email it is easy for him to lose track of meetings and projects and thereby get behind on work He is inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing his goals and tasks because he wastes time trying to stay organized and coordinate with people.

Competitor Analysis

Identifies the extent to which current systems meet user needs and potential usability problems

Competitor Analysis Errands To-Do List

Wunderlist

Planner Pro

Competitor Analysis: Home Page Errands To-Do List

Unclear homepage. No indication that other pages available with swipe

Wunderlist

Easy access to lists and folders

Planner Pro

Easy calendar access and easy access to all other app features

Competitor Analysis: Create a List Errands To-Do List

Hard to find folders to categorize lists into; when creating list, it is not clear where items can be added when creating the list

Wunderlist

Very simple and easy to find ‘create a list’ button on homescreen; items are easy to check off as they’re completed

Planner Pro

No list option in app but there is a ‘notes’ feature; cannot make list into checklist

Competitor Analysis: Sharing Errands To-Do List

Hard to find this sharing icon in the create a list feature; not a standard sharing icon

Wunderlist

Very easily to see this is a sharing button and easy to find on page with list

Planner Pro

The sharing option was only available in the android app (not in the iOS one)

Competitor Analysis: Create Calendar Event Errands To-Do List

Easy to find calendar from home page but adding a calendar event looks exactly the same as creating a list; setting a date and time is more complicated than it need be

Wunderlist

No visible calendar feature; can set a due date and time for a reminder that will be listed in the ‘week’ folder on the home page

Planner Pro

Visible calendar feature with colored dots (for different calendars) on days with events; can view events in different formats (day, week, month); easy to set up a new one

Competitor Analysis: Personalization Errands To-Do List

Offers range of background and text colors as well as fonts to personalize the appearance; not user friendly

Wunderlist

Offers ability to change the background/theme but only to a few limited preset options

Planner Pro

No appearance personalization options; includes options to personalize things like notifications

Competitor Analysis: Summary Errand To-Do List Home Page Create a List Sharing Create Calendar Event Personalization

Wunderlist

Planner Pro

Context Analysis

Identify user requirements and address usability issues and how they need to be tested through understanding the context of use

Context Analysis: Evaluate Category

Factor

Description

Usability Issue?

How to Test

Task

Task name

Create shared list, Create calendar event, Personalize background/theme

Yes, Evaluate

Heuristic Evaluation

Task

Task goal/output

Personalize background/theme

Yes, Evaluate

Design Thinking

Task

Task Duration

Create shared list, Create calendar event

Yes, Evaluate

Time on Task

Context Analysis: Monitor Category

Factor

Description

Usability Issue?

How to Test

Experience/Knowledge

Experience with similar systems or products

Most users will have basic experience using simple built-in applications on their phone (calendar, notes, etc.)

Yes, Monitor

Survey prior to user testing

Experience/Knowledge

Task knowledge

Most users will have knowledge of making lists, using calendars, and sharing across apps

Yes, Monitor

Survey prior to user testing

Context Analysis: Control Category

Factor

Description

Usability Issue?

How to Test

User

User Role

Organize their life by making various types of task lists and calendar events that can be shared with multiple people across various platforms

Yes, Control

Survey prior to testing

Experience/ Knowledge

Level of training

No formal training, but most are regular smartphone users

Yes, Control

Survey prior to testing

Task Analysis

Specify task structure and identify possible errors and task execution time

Task Analysis ● Create a shared list ● Create a calendar event ● Personalize background/theme

Task Analysis #1: Create a Shared List

Task Analysis #2: Create Calendar Event

Task Analysis #3: Personalize Theme

Evaluative Testing

Methods ● Heuristic Evaluation ● Quantitative User Testing ○ Effectiveness, Efficiency, Errors, Satisfaction

● Design Thinking

Heuristic Evaluation

Review product interface and compare it against usability principles to identify potential usability issues

Heuristic Evaluation: Definitions ● ● ● ●

Effectiveness: Fit for purpose Efficiency: Speed of performance Satisfaction: Pleasant to use User Control and Freedom: Users often choose system functions by mistake + will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo + redo. Not a lot of preset restriction on settings.

● Aesthetics: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed.

Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information + diminishes their relative visibility.

● Social Engagement: Ability to interact + engage with other users and see their activity.

Heuristic Evaluation: Results

Heuristic Evaluation: Results

Heuristic Evaluation: Insights ● Finding certain functions was confusing especially on Errands To-Do List due to unclear icons and hidden features ● Easy to get lost in Errands To-Do due to confusing navigation ● Social engagement ability was fairly low across all apps ● Personalization features were not easy to find and had very limited options on all apps

Heuristic Evaluation: Takeaways For Quantitative testing: ● Create a shared list ○

Wunderlist Errands-To-Do List

● Create a calendar event ○

Planner Pro Errands-To-Do List

Quantitative User Testing

Compare existing products in relation to product efficiency, errors, effectiveness, and satisfaction

Quantitative User Testing: Method Participants ● ● ● ●

6 Females; 5 Males; Ages 21-60 All regular smartphone users Most regularly use a Notes or Calendar App Only 1 regularly uses a Personal Assistant App (Wunderlist)

Materials ● ● ● ●

Survey Instructions with Scenarios (See Appendix) Apps: Errands To-Do List, Wunderlist, Planner Pro Satisfaction Rating Scale

Quantitative User Testing: Method Procedure: Each user began with a pre-testing survey. They then completed the “Create a shared list” task on Errands To-Do List and Wunderlist, each followed by a satisfaction rating scale. They then completed the “Create a Calendar Event” on Planner Pro and Errands To-Do List, each followed by a satisfaction rating scale.

Variables:

Effectiveness (Task Completion) Number of Errors Efficiency (Time on Task) Satisfaction (1-6 Rating Scale)

Quantitative User Testing: Results

Quantitative User Testing: Summary Create Shared List: Wunderlist vs. Errands To-Do List ● Effectiveness ○ ○

All users completed task in Wunderlist No users could find sharing option in Errands To-Do List

● User completed task in Wunderlist significantly faster, with significantly fewer errors, and reported significantly higher satisfaction.

Create Calendar Event: Planner Pro vs. Errands To-Do List ● No significant difference in efficiency or number of errors, but users reported significantly higher satisfaction for the task in Planner Pro.

Qualitative Test: Design Thinking

Human-centered approach to upgrade and prototype by integrating user needs within constraints

Qualitative Test: Method Participants: 2 male; 2 female Materials: Post It Notes, Pens, Markers, Blank Paper, Balloons Procedure: Participants were presented a short description of Sandra (Persona 1) and asked to brainstorm ideas for personalizing the background and theme of a personal assistant phone app. Following brainstorming, participants engaged in several alternating feedback and sketching phases.

Data Collected: Brainstorming ideas and sketches

Qualitative Test: Results ● Pattern and personal photo background options ● Color coding calendars and tasks

● Haptic, visual, and audio alert options ● Search theme and background categories

Evaluative Results Overview ● Planner Pro provided best calendar function and layout ● Wunderlist provided best list function and layout ○

Navigation errors due to unclear icons

● No apps had sufficient personalization functions ● Errands To-Do List had best integration of list and calendar features but lacked efficiency and intuitive design ○

Had the most errors due to hidden features and unclear icons

Redesign

Recommendations

= Heuristic Evaluation

Usability Problem

Recommendation

1. Unclear navigation

Provide clearly marked exits.

Limit depth of app

2. Unable to locate sharing function

3. Unclear icons

4. Lack of personalization options

= Quantitative

Severity Rating

Make clear sharing icon

Use familiar icons for an intuitive interface Add personalization options including theme and background easily accessible in settings

Rating scale (1-5) =

= Design Thinking

Redesign ● Implement carousel navigation ● Limit depth of app ● Standard/familiar icons for creating lists, adding tasks, sharing ● Personalization option to change the background and theme

Prototype Method: ● Create a Mid Fidelity clickable mockup ● Integrate data and conclusions from user testing ● Combine list feature of Wunderlist and calendar feature of Planner Pro Materials: ● Photoshop; Pop App; Wunderlist; Planner Pro

Prototype: Carousel Navigation

Usability Problem #1

Prototype: Change Calendar View

Usability Problem #1

Prototype: Create Calendar Event

Usability Problem #1 & #3

Prototype: Create New List

Usability Problem #1 & #3

Prototype: View List

Usability Problem #1

Prototype: Sharing

Usability Problem #2 & #3

Prototype: Menu & Personalization

Usability Problem #4

Prototype: Alerts

Usability Problem #1

Prototype: Search

Usability Problem #1

Appendix

Heuristic Evaluation: Wunderlist

Heuristic Evaluation: Errands-To-Do List

Heuristic Evaluation: Planner Pro

Quantitative User Testing: Survey

Post-Task Satisfaction Rating

Quantitative User Testing: Scenario Scripts

Quantitative User Testing: Participants ● N=11 Participants ● Sex ○

N=6 Female; N=5 Male

● Age ○

21-27 (N=7); 55-60 (N=4)

● All regular smartphone users ○

IOS Users (N=8); Android Users (N=3)

● N=1 Regularly uses a Personal Assistant App (Wunderlist) ● N=9 Regularly use Notes app ○

IOS Notes (N=7), Google Keep, Reminders, Snote

● N=6 Regularly use Calendar app ○

IOS Calendar, Google Calendar, iCal, Calendar

Quantitative User Testing: Means

Quantitative User Testing: Raw Data Survey

Participant

Age

Gender

Regular smartphone use?

Phone Operating System

Regularly use of Calendar Regular use of Personal Assistant on phone? If yes, what Regularly make lists or notes on App? If yes, what application? application? phone? If yes, what application?

yes/no

IOS Android Windows

yes/no + Application

M/F 1 2 3 4

25 M 24 F 23 F 27 M

yes/no + Application

yes/no + Application

yes

Android

No

No

Yes, SNote- samsung note taking app, OneNote

Yes

IOS

No

No

Yes, IOS notes

Yes

IOS

No

Yes, IOS Calendar

Yes, IOS notes

Yes

iOS

no

no

Yes, iOS notes

5

55 F

yes

iOS

no

yes, calendar

Yes, iOS notes

6

60 M

yes

Android

no

yes, calendar

yes, google keep

yes

iOS

no

google calendar

wunderlist, notes

7

56 F

8

56 M

yes

iOS

no

iCal

notes

9

21 M

yes

Android

no

no

no

10

23 F

Yes

iOS

No

Yes, IOS Calendar

Yes, iOS notes, reminders

11

23 F

Yes

iOS

No

No

No

Quantitative User Testing: Raw Data Create Shared List Wunderlist Order of Testing Effectiveness Errors

Participant

Complete Task yes/no

1 or 2

Errands To-Do List

Efficiency Time on Task (seconds)

# errors

Order of Testing

Satisfaction 1-6

1 or 2

Effectiveness Complete Task yes/no

Errors

Efficiency Time on Task (seconds)

# errors

Satisfaction 1-6

1

1

yes

1

51

5

2 Yes, No sharing

4

69

4

2

1

yes

0

77

3

2 Yes, No sharing

4

83

2

3

1

yes

2

68

4

2 Yes, No sharing

1

54

1

4

2

yes

2

81

4

1 Yes, No sharing

12

293

1

5

2

yes

1

116

5

1 Yes, No sharing

20

362

1

6

2

yes

0

94

4

1 yes, no sharing

9

191

1

7

1

yes

4

54

2

2 yes, no sharing

3

71

2

8

1

yes

2

49

6

2 yes, no sharing

9

109

1

9

2

yes

1

35

4

1 yes, no sharing

11

321

1

10

1

yes

3

66

5

2 yes, no sharing

16

189

2

11

2

yes

2

89

5

1 yes, no sharing

21

323

2

Quantitative User Testing: Raw Data Create Calendar Event Planner Pro Order of Testing Effectiveness Errors

Participant

Complete Task yes/no

1 or 2

Errands To-Do List

Efficiency Time on Task (seconds)

# errors

Order of Testing

Satisfaction 1-6

Effectiveness Complete Task yes/no

1 or 2

Errors

Efficiency

Satisfaction

Time on Task (seconds)

# errors

1-6

1

1

Yes

0

19

5

2

Yes

1

44

4

2

1

yes

0

40

5

2

yes

1

39

3

3

1

yes

1

40

5

2

yes

2

41

2

4

2

yes

2

81

5

1

yes (forgot to set time on date)

2

40

5

5

2

yes

1

62

4

1

yes

2

94

5

6

2

yes

0

36

5

1

yes

0

60

4

7

2

yes

4

105

4

1

yes

0

30

4

8

2

yes

0

26

6

1

yes

0

35

5

9

1

yes

0

32

5

2

yes

0

23

5

10

1

yes

0

44

5

2

yes

1

39

4

11

2

yes

0

41

5

1

yes

1

46

5

Quantitative User Testing: Analysis Output

Qualitative User Testing: Design Thinking Script: ●

“Sandra is a busy stay at home soccer mom in her late 30s. She uses a personal assistant app to organize her life and needs to be able to personalize the background and theme of the app.”

Procedure: ● ● ● ● ● ●

3 min: Brainstorming 2 min: Pair up for feedback 4 min: Sketch 2-3 best ideas based on feedback 2 min: Feedback on sketches 3 min: Pick your best sketch based on feedback and improve it 2 min: Final Feedback (What worked?, What could be improved?, Questions, Ideas)

Materials: ●

Post It Notes, Pens, Markers, Blank Paper, Balloons